EDITORIAL: Our faith makes clear that politics is not ultimate, and so we should never invest all of our hopes in a partisan leader, party or movement. Yet with profound Christian realism, the Church does offer moral and social principles that help us make the best choice available to us.

The Editors

The final stretch to the 2016 presidential election marks a new and disturbing experience for many faithful Catholic Americans.

In past years, the activists among us have embraced our preferred candidates with gusto, especially when their political records confirmed an unequivocal support for life, marriage and religious freedom and a desire to address immigration reform and other social and religious issues of critical importance to the Church. We trusted our candidates to do their best to promote the common good and defend our national interests. And if in hindsight our faith in their characters proved a bit naïve, their legacy never led us to question the process that sent them to the White House.

This time around, as opinion polls and many Church leaders have acknowledged, things look very different. “One candidate, in the view of a lot of people, is a belligerent demagogue with an impulse-control problem. And the other, also in the view of a lot of people, is a criminal liar, uniquely rich in stale ideas and bad priorities,” noted Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia in a lecture at the University of Notre Dame in September.

Even more worrisome, the stakes have never been higher for people of faith who seek to protect the unborn and to defend their own freedom to advance a holistic vision of marriage and family life that affirms the dignity of the human person and the biblical meaning of the conjugal one-flesh union. George Weigel gave voice to the growing sense of dread that the next president will see Catholic moral teaching not as a gift for the nation, but as a threat to social progress. “What’s coming is an administration in which the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services will argue in the federal courts that religious freedom in full — religious communities conducting their affairs and providing needed care for the weakest in our society according to their religious convictions about the moral life — is misogynist and homophobic, a mask behind which lurk irrational biases that cannot be countenanced in law,” said Weigel in a Sept. 28 column in First Things.

We yearn for a national leader of high character who shares our misgivings and can set the nation on a better course. Instead, we confront two problematic candidates with profound limitations. Accordingly, some question whether it is possible to discern the better choice, while others are tempted to sit this election out, and still others want to give up on politics altogether. Some people might reduce the choice to the candidate’s statements on the life issues, such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, contraception and assisted suicide — which the Church makes clear are objectively evil. Here, a clear contrast is visible: One candidate calls for Planned Parenthood to be defunded, while the other believes in its continued support, even by U.S. taxpayers. However, in considering the remaining issues, many become exasperated because they are not so clear-cut.

The Church doesn’t envision the faithful retreating from civic engagement, nor does it ask us to hold out for perfection in matters political. Our faith makes clear that politics is not ultimate, and so we should never invest all of our hopes in a partisan leader, party or movement.

Yet with profound Christian realism, the Church does offer moral and social principles that help us make the best choice available to us. “The Catholic Church teaches that the purpose and obligation of our government is to support the common good,” noted Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, in a Sept. 30 column in the Southern Nebraska Register. “The Second Vatican Council said that the common good is ‘the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.’ Our common good has three elements: respect for the dignity, rights, obligations and freedom of the human person; respect for the well-being, development and flourishing of the entire community; and peace, in the stability and security of a well-ordered community, governed by the rule of law.”

At the very least, careful study of these teachings will help us to cut through the shallow sound bites and acrimony that often pass for genuine political discourse and get to the heart of the matter. Love of God and country demands that we take our voting responsibilities seriously. Pope Francis gave his own advice about the U.S. election during his flight back to Rome from Georgia and Azerbaijan on Oct. 2. “I never say a word about electoral campaigns,” the Pope said. “The people are sovereign. I will only say: Study the proposals well, pray and choose in conscience,” formed integrally by Church teaching. The cynics among us insist that politics, by its very nature, is a corrupt business, and we shouldn’t expect much from our elected leaders. But it is a great mistake for religious believers to forsake their political responsibilities. If we take that route, how can we complain when our government, in the name of an allegedly enlightened secular progressivism, advances a very different notion of the common good?

“Without a transcendent orientation, secular progressivism makes a god of politics. Christianity, by contrast, recognizes that politics, while important, is not ultimate. Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world,’” observed R.R. “Rusty” Reno, the editor of First Things and the author of Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society. Reno’s larger point is that this distinctive vision of politics — “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17) — offers an antidote to our overheated campaign season and provides a healthy check on government overreach.

This legacy of faith should guide our evaluation of all political candidates. It also should inspire an examination of conscience. Are we driven to desolation by this election cycle because we have invested too much in the political order and too little in our relationship with God? Did we mistake our political party for our Church? Indeed, as Alexis de Tocqueville once observed in his prescient work, Democracy in America, the survival of our great experiment in ordered liberty depends on a thoughtful, prayerful and virtuous people much more than on party platforms and donor databases.

“The task of renewing a society is much more long term than a trip every few years to the voting booth,” said Archbishop Chaput. “And it requires a different kind of people. It demands that we be different people.”

Just want to say that if the good and merciful Lord holds us accountable for all of our past and present transgressions like the political pundits and media personalities do, none of us have a prayer at eternal life and perpetual happiness. What a depressing and tragic thought!

The proper moral choice is to cast a vote for “None of the Above”. A vote for one candidate is not a vote against another candidate. Such a vote is a positive act of afirmation for that candidate.
Staying home on election day is a passive acceptance of the outcome, a sin of omission.
Turning in a ballot on which none of the candidates is selected is a positive act of rejection. It is the act by which we the people formally state thate we find no eligible candidate acceptable. It is an actual counted vote for “None of the Above”.
See blankballot.org.

Posted by Mac on Thursday, Oct, 13, 2016 8:22 AM (EDT):

It’s hard not to pay attention to personality when confronted by two such candidates, it seems wiser to focus on platform, intent and past performance. I haven’t been able to vote for one Party’s candidates for years because of their open support of anti-Catholic behavior/ideology. Let each man/woman choose according to his/her conscience. We will be held accountable, even if these candidates seem not to be.

Posted by Robert Fischer on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 3:49 PM (EDT):

To Jean about “the Common Good”
Trump cares deeply about “the Common Good” issues that you stated in your posting. That’s why so many working-class Republicans AND Democrats are supporting him. He also cares deeply about protecting unborn babies and ending unrestricted legal abortion including partial-birth abortions, which by contrast Clinton has promised to make legal forever by appointing new Supreme Court justices to protect the Roe versus Wade ruling forever, thereby dooming 100s of millions of USA babies to death before birth.
YOU omitted any mention of abortion in your list items in “the Common Good.” Is it possible you are a senior official working for Planned Parenthood? I can’t believe you are a Catholic, given your total omission in your posting of the PRE-EMINENT non-negotiable for Catholic voters, according to USCCB guidance! You certainly do sound like a fan of Saul Alinsky, author of “Rules for Radicals”, recently exposed by EWTN in a wonderful 90-minute movie shown multiple times on EWTN TV (“a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”).

Posted by Rod Halvorsen on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 12:30 PM (EDT):

Who cares whether King Cyrus was a “man of character”. He provided for the rebuilding of the Temple!

Catholic leaders are accomplices in mass murder every single time they speak vague and ambiguous lessons on voting.

AS THEY HAVE BEEN FOR OVER 40 YEARS.

Posted by Robert Fischer on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 12:13 PM (EDT):

Hillary Clinton has just been caught again criticizing Catholics openly. Check it the stories on Fox Business News and the Internet. Remember prior presidential campaign comments like “Christians clinging to their guns and bibles.” If Hillary Clinton wins and then starts attacking Catholics and other Christians as she has promised to do multiple times, how will Catholics who voted for her feel about their votes? Anyone remember how Christ was betrayed with a kiss? IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR ALL CATHOLICS (PARTICULARLY CATHOLIC WOMEN) TO RECONSIDER THEIR CURRENT CHOICES AND THEN VOTE FOR TRUMP (AND OTHER PRO-LIFE CANDIDATES).

Posted by Rod Halvorsen on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 11:42 AM (EDT):

Right square on the money, “Posted by Sean on Monday, Oct 10, 2016 9:34 PM (EDT)”.

Posted by Jean on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 10:41 AM (EDT):

Respect for the Common Good, as defined in this editorial, only provides one choice: Democrats. We all know that Republicans don’t care about communities, they care about the rich and wealthy. Republicans, as demonstrated eloquently by Mr. Trump, don’t care about Latinos (they’re all rapists, they say!), they don’t care about Muslims (they’re all terrorists, they say!), they don’t care about African Americans (they’re all lazy, they say!), they don’t give a hoot about the dignity of women (after all, women are sex toys, they say!!), and I could go on! Oh, did I forget that Republicans also believe that health care is a god given right to the wealthy only! This is obviously not the kind of Common Good experienced in the Catholic faith tradition. Republicans and Donald Trump, in 2016, have made abundantly clear and transparent what the party has always been about, and they might pay a huge price for this transparency.

Posted by taad on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 10:01 AM (EDT):

Everyone needs to look to history for the answer to the question of who to vote for. Time and time again, God picked very, very flawed men to come to the aid of Christianity. Even the great battle Lepanto was won by an admiral who was womanizer, Don Juan of Austria! Emperor Constantine was not a saint! Prince Phillip of France, who Saint Joan of Arc said God wanted to rule France was a jerk to say the least. Joan knew he would betray her. The middle of a race is not time to change horses. Trump is all we have, or we lose for a generation. And there will be hell to pay! The Democrats now have us on the verge of a nuclear war with Russia! They have placed in risk of destruction because of they have been arrogant. There ties to abortion will be our undoing with Putin. If we wait for the perfect leader, we will not be here. It will be over.

Posted by Deborah Johnson on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 9:59 AM (EDT):

Are Catholics for the murder of little ones in the womb ? A vote for HRC is a vote for just that…..the
murder of innocent little children.

Posted by Robert Fischer on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 9:12 AM (EDT):

As a pro-life Trump supporter, I am encouraged by all the pro-Trump posts by Catholic pro-life women on this blog. However, the latest polls show Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump nationally by as much as 33 percentage points, although Trump leads with men by 11 points. I generally have little confidence in polls; but if they are accurate, Our Blessed Mother and Mother Angelica must be very disappointed with those America women who are looking at Trump’s WORDS and ignoring Clinton’s record of deceitful, traitorous, evil ACTS the past 30 years, particularly her murderous intentions of 100% support of all forms of abortion including partial-birth and even after-birth if the mother intended to abort the baby but it was “accidentally” born alive.
I haven’t found polls that differentiate between Catholic and non-Catholic women, BUT I PRAY THAT ALL CATHOLIC WOMEN WILL PUT PRO-LIFE ISSUES FIRST AND VOTE FOR TRUMP, AS WELL AS TRY TO CONVINCE THEIR NON-CATHOLIC SISTERS TO DO THE SAME.
And I pray that the current polls on women voters are very, very wrong. WHAT A TRAVESTY IT WOULD BE IF THE USA’s WOMEN VOTERS CAST THE VOTES FOR CLINTON THAT COULD ENABLE THE CONTINUED MURDER OF 100 MILLION BABIES IN THE USA THE REST OF THIS CENTURY BECAUSE OF CLINTON’s NEWLY APPOINTED PRO-ABORTION SUPREME COURT JUSTICES.

Posted by Robert on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 6:16 AM (EDT):

Seamless garment blather.

Posted by Wendy Gardner on Wednesday, Oct, 12, 2016 6:15 AM (EDT):

I saw the long list of pro-life candidates listed by someone else. If only some of those people fought a little harder. Sadly, my state of MA has no one listed. It’s awful here for that. It’s hard to get any priests out to the clinics as well. They seem embarrassed sometimes by pro-life people.

Posted by D.N. on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 10:34 PM (EDT):

<Accordingly, some question whether it is possible to discern the better choice, while others are tempted to sit this election out, and still others want to give up on politics altogether. Some people might reduce the choice to the candidate’s statements on the life issues, such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, contraception and assisted suicide — which the Church makes clear are objectively evil.>

Depending on the direction we want this country to go, the choice is not hard at all. It is very easy. The media fuels, distorts, makes all the trouble while they cover for their beloved candidate at every turn.

Donald Trump got caught in something he said over a decade ago. Did he deny it? Did he say it 30,000 times? Did he delete it? Did he kill it? Did he blame it on someone else, a “left-wing conspiracy” perhaps? No, like a man—humbled—he acknowledged it and apologized. Has Hillary ever acknowledged anything she is guilty and even accused of? Why aren’t people aghast at that?

Our country will fall into the hands of our enemies if she gets elected. She has the One-World people behind her—like Mr. Soros with his billions. Americans will end up the minority to hostile and dangerous aliens. Our freedoms will be taken away especially freedom of religion. The Supreme Court justices will be tilted liberal and will bring the U.S. down quickly as they have no respect for our constitution. They’ll be abortion on demand with taxpayer money. The U.S. will no longer be a sovereign nation.

People need to look at the big picture instead of just their little opinions or their own little world.

The “Left” needs an exorcism. Catholics who vote for someone as radically pro abortion as Hillary Clinton will die with blood on their hands. They will be responsible. St. Mother Teresa once said “the fruit of abortion is nuclear war.”

Can any American dare ask God to bless the USA when we spit in His face over and over? His hand will fall and so will the U.S. This election will determine our future. Let’s get out of our comfort zones and see the big picture.

Posted by William Domenico on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 7:49 PM (EDT):

All of the chaste and all-knowing political pundits are quick to indict Donald Trump for his crude, unorthodox approach to his candidacy for President of a country that he truly loves. He may have made some regrettable remarks in his past but, none of them can possibly come close to equaling the regrettable actions of a sitting President and a Presidential wannabe who think nothing of supporting pro-choice, same-sex marriage, euthanasia and all of the other evils that will eventually lead to a Perfect Storm of destruction for the good ole USA. And everyone wants to know what is happening. Everyone who is “politically correct” wants Trump’s scalp. This country was founded on godly principles and those principles are now being deliberately denied. God help us. God save us. God make America great again.

Posted by cthlc12345 on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 5:44 PM (EDT):

nrlpac.org is an excellent website that indicates each state’s pro-life candidates. With all the truthful talk about how bad a Hillary Clinton Presidency would be for life and liberty, let’s not forget about the very important SENATE races and other races.

Here’s a sample of pro-life candidates running for the Senate (source: nrlpac.org):

There can be no common good without voting against a candidate who promotes abortion and partial birth abortion which is infanticide. “The fruit of abortion is war” said Mother Teresa and here we are. To defend life is the foundational principle. The ‘seamless garment’ all issues are equal of now Cardinal Cupich was put down emphatically by Bishop Chaput. Rightly so. To be unemployed is a struggle and a challenge but to be unemployed can never be on par with a child being torn apart limb from limb. That child, who God brought into being doesn’t get to see the light of day or take his first breath. Let us meditate on this long and hard. There should be no confusion. Our Bishops should be crystal clear but sadly they are not. It is Franklin Graham who is crying out in all fifty states like Jonah, travelling this nation to warn Americans that God will not bless a nation that commits murder against it’s most vulnerable.

Posted by clement polidoro on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 4:01 PM (EDT):

if Hillary is president/ Christians/will suffer/ the supreme court

Posted by APEppink on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 3:28 PM (EDT):

As usual The Register refuses to explicitly point out the grievous evil inherent in voting for pro choice/abortion politicians. Disgusting cowardice. Just like most of the clergy from our illustrious ‘Pope’ right on down. It’s little wonder the Church is experiencing such difficulty with leadership like this.

Posted by Patricia on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 2:49 PM (EDT):

If this article is supposed to be an aid for our “catholic” conscience, I missed it somewhere in the rhetoric. It makes my head spin. Plain and simple is my conscience telling me to vote for the candidate who has promised to defund Planned Parenthood (the greatest enemy of the family, our children and life itself), to appint judges who will be prolife and repeal Roe v Wade, to repeal Obamacare (which is anti-life and family),to fight for our religious liberty as catholics and more good things. And this isn’t enough for some catholics? Are you waiting for a saint to run for president?

Posted by JTLiuzza on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 2:48 PM (EDT):

Sean said it correctly below. The complete insanity in the Church, and church affiliated organs like this one, is unfortunately not a surprise anymore.

With Hillary in the white house, and all that means vis a vis open borders, national debt, SCOTUS appointees, planned parenthood funding, incursions on second amendment rights and religious liberty… the list is endless: there will be many, many catholics to blame - Chaput the pseudo-intellectual careerist, Weigel the pompous, too many bishops to name, the entire editorial staff of National CAtholic Register, Ann Barnhardt the potty mouth “rad trad” who is never wrong… A long list indeed.

One Catholic who won’t be on that list: me.

Posted by stilebelieve on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 2:45 PM (EDT):

Catholic Thinker, where in the bible does Jesus direct his disciples to go get government to take care of the poor?

Since Roe v Wade 60-million Americans have been slaughtered in their mothers’ wombs. You have a choice between a candidate and a party who has built her career on said slaughter and promises to continue it; and a candidate and a party which has the strongest pro-life plank in history and promises to alleviate said slaughter.

God bless

Richard W Comerford

Posted by Michael on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 2:01 PM (EDT):

Here is a sentence from the article -“I never say a word about electoral campaigns,” the Pope said. “The people are sovereign. I will only say: Study the proposals well, pray and choose in conscience,” formed integrally by Church teaching. The end quote is after the word conscience, and if I recall correctly, that was the end of his statement. I could be wrong? I request clarification from other posters. If I am correct, why is the statement extended with the words - formed integrally by Church teaching? What is the correct quote from Pope Francis.

Posted by Norm on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 1:37 PM (EDT):

There is no Catholic and Christian side of congress. If there was we wouldn’t be choosing between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. If that line of thought continues, we will just be back to this point again. The church needs to take a step away from American politics for a while. It has become too bogged down in the sludge that elections create and sadly is often indistinguishable from the secular world. By all means, go vote but then come back to the politics of Jesus (Sermon on the Mount).

Posted by Robert Fischer on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 1:32 PM (EDT):

To Catholic Thinker:

I disagree with your assertion linking the USCCB and NCR to “alt-right” (a synonym for Trump supporters in this election). Factions of the USCCB (newly minted Cardinal Cupich, for example), are far-left liberals under the influence of Saul Alinsky, just like Pope Francis I, who seems to be making every effort to “steer” the Catholic Church to the leftist views he grew up under, and also make them “fit in” better with the gross immorality that is pervading not only the USA today, but the entire world.
In the midst of all this, NCR tries to be “fair-and-balanced” like Fox News (which I have stopped watching entirely) at the risk of losing their own Catholicity.
FORTUNATELY, EWTN TV/RADIO IS MAINTAINING ITS STRONG CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY AND MORALITY IN THE FACE OF SATAN’S ATTACKS ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (THANKS TO MOTHER ANGELICA’S INTERCESSION FROM HEAVEN).
As far as “advocating for the poor,” there is no demographic “poorer” than aborted babies who are denied the right to life itself. The fact that you seem to minimize the plight of aborted DEAD babies and emphasize only the plight of LIVING people who may be in poverty shows you don’t’ fully understand the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You might rethink your “blog handle,” or even better, post your true name in a spirit of honest transparency.

Posted by Wendy Gardner on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 1:07 PM (EDT):

Sean, 10/10, 9:34 pm, said it all. How can anyone be confused, and it’s true that the article was so lukewarm that it was disappointing. This is Life’s last chance to fight. If Hillary gets in, Death walks into the Oval Office with her.

Posted by P. Garbe on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 12:27 PM (EDT):

To CATHOLIC THINKER ~ I agree the USCCB is culpable for the mess we’re in b/c they have been corrupted by the left. If you think voting for clinton is okay, then you are contributing to her push for THE CULTURE OF DEATH! She’s in bed with Planned Parenthood. PP has endorsed her and is spending $30,000,000 of your tax dollars to get her elected. Hillary supports abortion from conception to a baby born alive in a failed abortion. She expects us to change our religion and ‘get with the times.’ She is responsible for the death of 4 Americans in Benghazi. She was more concerned about how the outcome would affect her when she ran for president. She wants open borders with no screening of immigrants. Welcome Islamist Radicals who want to kill us because we are Infidels; non-believers! Are you prepared to die for her? I’m not! If one votes against the Culture of Life, then he will have to answer for his contribution to the Culture of Death on judgment day. Unless we stand for Life, the other issues are meaningless. Trump was not my first choice, but the alternative is bad for all Americans; the Unborn, the Elderly, the Disabled, the Ill. I agree that the Republicans are not always on the right side, but the Democrats have become the party of Death and their cherished sacrament is that of ABORTION.

Posted by Michael on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 12:04 PM (EDT):

I’m a retired educator and my middle school students used the English language better than Donald Trump. It amazes me to read support for the man from people of my faith. Many are unable to recognize an imposter because he says he’s pro-life. One thing he’s not is pro-respect, and with that in clear media view my pastor still suggests we vote with an “informed Catholic conscience.” Trump rambles on and on and says nothing. In Trump’s dictionary, the word “disaster” is ever-present, as in everything is a disaster. Here’s a summary of his last disgraceful week.

“I’m sorry for saying that. I didn’t say that about abusing women, but I’m sorry I didn’t say that. Other things are happening other than the thing I didn’t say, which I am sorry for. Anyone hear about Isis? I’ll put Hillary in jail.” Donald Trump speaks like he needs a certain word count for a report on a book he never read.

Posted by P. Garbe on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 11:55 AM (EDT):

FOR JUSTIN WEST ~ Sorry, but Gary Johnson is as bad as Clinton. He’s pro-abortion, pro same-sex marriage, and pro liberal laws. One cannot be a fiscal conservative & social liberal as he is. At some point, giving in the the ‘give away’ is support of the social liberal, we must eventually pay by denying our morals and with our checkbooks.

Posted by Timothy Bauer on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 11:50 AM (EDT):

Quite a bit of mumbo jumbo in this editorial.
Please keep in mind their are more than 2 candidates
in this election. And on many ballots you can vote
for none of the above. Should one vote for one of
the 2 major parties. Just ask yourself one question.
WWJD-“What would Jesus do”. Please say a prayer
before you vote and also keep in mind-their are
many many other candidates and ballot measures
on your ballot. In case the presidential choices are
to repulsive to get one out to vote.

Posted by Keith on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 11:34 AM (EDT):

Sean, you said it exactly right!

Posted by john bremsteller on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 11:31 AM (EDT):

The Catholic and Christian side of the Congress will have to steel themselves for the next eight years. Clinton is obligated to continue the planned foreign and economic policies, but she will have some freedom to make a few initiatives on her own, especially in the selection of Supreme Court justices. The Republicans should have approved Merrick Garland, a centrist on everything, but it is too late now, and Hillary will now have at least three nominations during her two terms

Posted by Don L on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 4:27 AM (EDT):

Yes, there is despair as a result of this morally corrupted political choice before us, though their is clearly no equivalency between a boorish cad and a champion of the culture of death for Catholics to pretend they can really choose either one. They can’t. They must choose life. Sad that so many leaders in the Church are either silent or speaking as if picking either candidate didn’t matter.
Even more troubling in these difficult days is the reality that there is also and more importantly, within our Church, God’s Church, much despair and yes, the politics of ambiguity spreading confusion and division among the weakly catechized and secularized laity. Perhaps the perpetuation of the latter has helped to bring about the mess we are in, in these most spiritually fragile of times.
it is inarguable that this is not the Church’s finest hour.

Posted by Justin West on Tuesday, Oct, 11, 2016 3:32 AM (EDT):

Articles like this are flagrantly problematic, because you’re trying to hint that “Trump is still the better option” because he paid lip-service to our core beliefs. Trump wrote a GREAT, YUGE book, “The Art of the Deal” (It’s Terrific, everyone says so), and the overarching premise is: Do whatever you need to do, say whatever you need to say, to close he deal. For someone who has been ardently pro-choice his whole life, and a democrat, to suddenly 180 once he’s running is suspect at best.

The biggest problem with this article, however, is it’s bald-faced denial of some other choice.

FACT: Some 65% of all voters find both candidates deplorable.

FACT: The largest political party in the united states are “independents”, not Republicans or Democrats.

FACT: Gary Johnson Leads among independent voters.

FACT: Gary Johnson is on the ballot in all 50 states.

FACT: Gary Johnson is not involved in any lying or conniving, has not condoned war crimes, and while his platform is one that has room for pro-choice, he’s actually said repeatedly that he things that Roe v. Wade was decided wrongly.

Johnson is NOT the perfect candidate (he’s not even a great Libertarian), but he as a far cry better than braggadocios, sexually assaulting, war crime endorsing Donald, or corrupt, election rigging, file destroying, justice obfuscating actual war criminal Hillary.

And in this election, we have a REAL chance to make a difference in how the vote looks in future years, if only people would stop repeating the mantra that “there are only 2 choices”.

FACT: 1/4 of all presidents have been 3rd party, including Abraham Lincoln.

“Did we mistake our political party for our Church? Yes! The NCR and the USCCB are two of the worst offenders in the last few presidential elections. The USCCB and individual alt right Bishops have so immersed themselves into Republican party politics that many have wondered why the Bishops have forgotten about advocating for the poor especially in their useless voter guides. The NCR too is very guilty of the over emphasizing of “non-negotiables” and turning a blind eye to the Republican parties and individual candidates (Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Mike Pence) indifference to the poor, willingness to go to war (Iraq), and the many other issues that are inherently not pro-life among the Republican parties core. It is unfortunate that it took someone as awful, vile and unqualified as Trump to make the editors wonder if slapping on a “pro life” tag is enough to get the Catholic vote. I say absolutely not!

Posted by Sean on Monday, Oct, 10, 2016 9:34 PM (EDT):

Sounds like an undergraduate term paper which dances around the issue. And the issue, dear editors, is the light years difference between Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton. Yes, the candidates do have names. This election is not theory.

The editors ignore reality. But the reality here is quite clear. Mr Trump over the years has been indifferent to the Church but is not an enemy of the Church. His campaign has a Catholic outreach committee. He is pro life and opposes government funding of abortion.
Mrs Clinton will move to repeal the Hyde Ammendment immediately and has said so. She prays at the altar of Planned Parenthood. She despises core Catholic teachings of life, marriage and sexual morality in spades…and so do all her political friends. If elected she will attack Catholic schools and hospitals with all the power of her office.
The editors of NCR know that, of course.
Nevertheless, they print the above lukewarm pablum that defies gravity. Fine, go to sleep.
But NCR will not escape the crosshairs of a HRC presidency. Bet on it.

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